|
God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer | 
| Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher: HarperOne
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $6.15
You Save: $19.80 (76%)
New (46) Used (21) Collectible (3) from $6.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  104 reviews
Sales Rank: 6148
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0061173975
Dewey Decimal Number: 231.8
EAN: 9780061173974
ASIN: 0061173975
Publication Date: March 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: New, Excellent Condition, may have Remainder Mark, Tight Binding, Pages are Clean and Unread! , Immediate Shipping, Email Notification, Professional Service, MILLIONS Served, SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In times of questioning and despair, people often quote the Bible to provide answers. Surprisingly, though, the Bible does not have one answer but many "answers" that often contradict one another. Consider these competing explanations for suffering put forth by various biblical writers: - The prophets: suffering is a punishment for sin
- The book of Job, which offers two different answers: suffering is a test, and you will be rewarded later for passing it; and suffering is beyond comprehension, since we are just human beings and God, after all, is God
- Ecclesiastes: suffering is the nature of things, so just accept it
- All apocalyptic texts in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament: God will eventually make right all that is wrong with the world
For renowned Bible scholar Bart Ehrman, the question of why there is so much suffering in the world is more than a haunting thought. Ehrman's inability to reconcile the claims of faith with the facts of real life led the former pastor of the Princeton Baptist Church to reject Christianity. In God's Problem, Ehrman discusses his personal anguish upon discovering the Bible's contradictory explanations for suffering and invites all people of faith—or no faith—to confront their deepest questions about how God engages the world and each of us.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 99 more reviews...
 Nice but talking to the choir October 7, 2008
This book is an easy read, and as a former Christian I connected with the author's use of biblical quotes to make his point. This book will probably not play well to an audience of unbelievers because it depends heavily on the Christian tradition to make his arguments. It does, however, do very well at arguing why the answers to human suffering in the bible are insulting at best and monsterous at worst and this book should be read by all those who call themselves Christian believers. Why don't believers hold god to the standard of being better than his creation? Why do humans seem to have more compassion when they work to aleviate human suffering (treating disease, helping victims of natural disasters),whereas god doesn't put an end to suffering such as disease when he supposedly can? Mr. Ehrman is singing to the choir in my case, because I came to the same conclusion as his long ago.
If you want to see why biblical arguments for suffering do not make sense and postulate a god that causes, ignores, and manipulates human suffering then this is the book for you.
 Honest, scholarly, literate and real-world review of suffering September 26, 2008
It seems that many people who have written negative reviews have never actually read the book. Many of the proposals for explanations of suffering that are expounded in the reviews are ones that Dr. Ehrman examines in the book (often at some length). What seems to be missing from these reviews is that Ehrman is making a case for his own viewpoint, examining ideas that have been proposed to explain suffering, and then explaining why he does not find them satisfying or convincing. At no point does he say that you cannot find the explanations satisfactory (e.g., the "need for free will" hypothesis), but he does explain why he himself does not think the explanation is adequate. Agree with Dr. Ehrman or not, you cannot argue with the intellectual effort and personal honesty. Dr. Ehrman writes very well, and in a highly engaging style with subtle humor and a fine flow of ideas. The chapter on the Book of Job is alone worth the price of the book.
Illuminating and insightful September 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As the aptly named book implies, Bart Erhman, an eminent scholar on Christianity, evaluates the bible's response to the question of suffering. Along the journey he effectively illuminates the various attempts by biblical authors to explain suffering, all which fall far short of anything that can be considered an acceptable answer, or even a plausible explanation. Ehrman uses a critical yet highly pragmatic approach to the issue. This rationalism is likely to ignite emotion in those who assume that there is a consensus by biblical authors and early Christian authors, or that suffering is somehow mandated by their God.
An important point worth touching on is how Ehrman uses his formidable knowledge of early Christianity to transcend the typical analysis of text itself and tries to give the reader a historical perspective. This is achieved by evaluating factors that transcend the mere text. By evaluating when the text was written, characteristics of the author, the intended audience and other supporting texts, a far greater understanding of the subject matter is made possible.
Ehrman states that he has spent many years thinking about the issue of suffering. This book is clearly the sythesis of that process.
Highly recommended
An honest confrontation of tough questions September 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Dr. Ehrman has succeeded in taking his readers with him down the path of true self-reflection on matters of faith. He shines a bright light in a direction we are rarely encouraged to look.
Readers who have questioned the teachings they have been brought up with will appreciate his sensitive but uncompromising look at the "answers" we have been given on matters of human suffering. If the partial answers offered by faith have left you dissatisfied, this book is for you.
While Dr. Ehrman forces us to take a hard look at some tough questions, he also leaves his readers with a truly inspiring message of hope. I found the last few pages of his book especially uplifting and moving. He may not lead us back to the beliefs we were brought up with, but he offers a perspective which we would all do very well to consider.
This book also has a great deal to offer at the purely scholarly level. Serious readers of academic material will not be disappointed.
 A Book of Little Significance September 20, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Ehrman is an excellent scholar and a prolific writer but his latest book misses the mark. I find it puzzling that a man with his expertise in Biblical literature has failed to miss a very obvious point...the Bible is not intended to provide an answer to the question, "Why do people suffer?" I was dissapointed to see such a brilliant scholar fall into the same trap as Fundamentalists of every religion - to use their holy texts as "textbooks" that provide clearcut answers...out of this problem rises Islamic and Christian fundamentalism.
Ehrman gathers all of the right evidence: He is correct in observing that many independent authors attempt to answer the question; he is also correct in observing that their answers are often contradictory and cannot be reconciled. But Ehrman uncharacteristically and suddenly becomes intellectually lazy and concludes that these contradictions negate the existence of God. Here Ehrman makes a very common mistake (that is why I am surprised, for he is usually uncommonly sharp). He falls into the very trap that the Bible cautions us to avoid...making a rational argument for the existence of God. Ehrman needs to have his life and the lives of others tied into a package with a bow...they need to be easily understood. Ehrman would have been happy with the old belief that sin is a punishment for your sins. But this is not the conclusion that the Bible draws (only the conclusion of some select individuals within the Bible). As a whole, the Bible makes a point NOT to explain suffering...thus the contradictions. Even Jesus dies on the cross asking, "Why have you forsaken me?" He (a prophet, the Son of God, God, whatever one chooses to believe), never gets an answer! Suffering is a mystery of faith, and mystery is something Ehrman does not want to leave uknown. Like so many today, Ehrman wants to be able to explain everything...everything has to have rational meaning. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Lastly, Ehrman's conclusion (that we should all try to live well and fulfill our materialistic desires) is hardly the right answer to the question that has turned him from Christianity. In the end, Ehrman's book reveals that the question he wants answered is "How can a loving God permit ME to suffer?" when he should be asking "Why do I permit the suffering of others?" His/our materialism is at the expense of others worldwide. Ehrman has been looking for a quick-fix answer to the problem of suffering so that he can continue to live his comfortable life at Chapel Hill (he is not alone in this quest). The only answer the Bible supplies is that WE (people) are a powerful force that can end the suffering of so many...and we chose not to. This, perhaps, is our greatest sin. We look instead for an easy answer to explain why people are starving in Ethiopia or being slaughtered in Darfur, when the reality is that WE have the power to stop this kind of suffering, and we chose not to...even while telling ourselves that we are "doing all that we can".
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
